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    The Greek Alphabet and Its Pronunciation

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    The document describes the modern Greek alphabet, including the 24 letters and their corresponding sounds. He explains that although it is similar to the ancient Greek alphabet, the sounds of some letters have changed. It also describes the pronunciation of vowels, consonants, and digraphs, noting some difficult sound pairs for Spanish speakers.

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    The Greek Alphabet and Its Pronunciation

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    The document describes the modern Greek alphabet, including the 24 letters and their corresponding sounds. He explains that although it is similar to the ancient Greek alphabet, the sounds of some letters have changed. It also describes the pronunciation of vowels, consonants, and digraphs, noting some difficult sound pairs for Spanish speakers.

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    The document describes the modern Greek alphabet, including the 24 letters and their corresponding sounds. He explains that although it is similar to the ancient Greek alphabet, the sounds of some letters have changed. It also describes the pronunciation of vowels, consonants, and digraphs, noting some difficult sound pairs for Spanish speakers.

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    The document describes the modern Greek alphabet, including the 24 letters and their corresponding sounds. He explains that although it is similar to the ancient Greek alphabet, the sounds of some letters have changed. It also describes the pronunciation of vowels, consonants, and digraphs, noting some difficult sound pairs for Spanish speakers.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    15 views6 pages

    The Greek Alphabet and Its Pronunciation

    Uploaded by

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    The document describes the modern Greek alphabet, including the 24 letters and their corresponding sounds. He explains that although it is similar to the ancient Greek alphabet, the sounds of some letters have changed. It also describes the pronunciation of vowels, consonants, and digraphs, noting some difficult sound pairs for Spanish speakers.

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    The Greek alphabet and its pronunciation

    Throughout the entire article and the entire blog in general we will use the International
    Phonetic Alphabet (IPA, IPA).
    The Modern Greek alphabet is almost identical to that of Ancient Greek, although the
    sounds that represent some letters change in some cases. There are a total of 24
    letters :
    ΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩ
    α β γ δ ε ζ η θ ι κ λ μ ν ξ ο π ρ σ/ς τ υ φ ψ ω
     α — άλφα  ν — νι
     β — βήτα  ξ — ξι
     γ — γάμα  ο — όμικρον
     δ — δέλτα  π — πι
     ε — έψιλον  ρ — ρο
     ζ — ζήτα  σ/ς — σίγμα
     η — ήτα  τ — ταυ
     θ — θήτα  υ — ύψιλον
     ι — γιώτα  φ — φι
     κ — κάπα  χ — χι
     λ — λάμδα  ψ — ψι
     μ — μι  ω — ωμέγα

    The name of the letters is similar to what they had in classical Greek, although the
    spelling is adapted to current conventions. Note that the letter τ is pronounced [taf].
    The Greek alphabet is not exact and, especially with vowels, represents difficulties,
    as we are going to see.
    Spelling and pronunciation of vowels

    Modern Greek has only 5 vowels , although it has


    more spellings as a result of the ancient Greek heritage.
    All vowels are short, since there is no distinction in quantity
    or opening, even between ο/ω, etc. The vowels are the M
    odern Greek vowel diagram
    same as in Spanish .
     [a] is represented by α
     [e] is represented by ε, αι
     [i] is represented by ι, η, υ, ει, οι
     [o] is represented by ο, ω
     [u] is represented by ου
    As can be seen, mainly in the case of [i], the same sound corresponds to more than
    one spelling , mainly due to etymological causes. Special attention to:
     All spellings for [i]: ι, η, υ, ει, οι
     The [u] is represented by ου (υ represents [i])
    The graphic accent
    All polysyllabic words (and some monosyllabic words) carry a graphic accent , which
    coincides with the voice accent (which can be on the last, penultimate or
    antepenultimate syllable, but no more). When the stressed syllable contains a vowel
    digraph (e.g., παίδι), the stress is always placed on the second vowel, even if it is a υ
    [v/f] (e.g., αύριο).
    Accents are omitted when all capital letters are written ( unlike in Spanish ).
    Modern Greek has simplified the three accents to just one, the acute one, just like in
    Spanish. Nor does he use the spirits of ancient Greek at all.

    Consonant pronunciation
     β — [v] (as in English voice )
     γ — [ɣ] (like Spanish intervocalic ‹g›) or [ʝ] (like Spanish ‹y/ll›)
     δ — [ð] (like the Spanish intervocalic ‹d›, or in English the )
     ζ—[z] (as in English zip )
     θ — [θ] (like the Spanish ‹z›, or in English think )
     κ—[k]
     λ—[l]
     μ—[m]
     ν—[n]
     ξ — [ks] (also at the beginning of a word: ξέρω [ˈksero])
     π—[p]
     ρ — [r] (note)
     σ/ς — [s] (note)
     τ—[t]
     φ—[f]
     χ — [x] (like the Spanish ‹j›)
     ψ — [ps] (also at the beginning of a word: ψυχολόγος [psixοˈlοɣοs])
    When using uppercase, [s] is always represented by Σ, but in lowercase this letter has
    two variants:
     σ in any position except…
     ς right at the end of a word
    The γ becomes pronounced [ʝ] before [e, i] : γεγονός [ʝɛɣοˈnοs], για [ʝa].
    β, γ, δ, ζ have changed their pronunciation since classical Greek:
     β, γ, δ were historically stop consonants [b, g, d], but in modern Greek they have
    undergone lenition and have passed into the corresponding fricatives [v, ɣ, ð] (the
    Spanish speaker has to be careful to actually read [v ], and not [b] as in Spanish)
     ζ is usually taught in ancient Greek classes as [dz] (although it was possibly more
    like [zd] or even just [z]); in modern Greek it is simply [z]
    Also θ, φ, χ have changed their pronunciation from classical Greek (voiceless aspirated
    stops [t h , ph , k h ]) to voiceless fricatives [θ, f, x]; However, this is the pronunciation that
    is usually taught in high schools, so it is not new to the student.

    Pronunciation of some digraphs


    In addition to what has already been seen, the following digraphs must be taken into
    account:
     αυ — [av] or [af]
     ευ — [ev] or [ef]
    In both cases, it is pronounced with [v] when the following sound is voiced (vowel,
    β, γ, δ, ζ, λ, ρ, μ, ν), and with [f] when the following sound is voiceless (κ, π, τ, φ, θ,
    χ, σ, ξ, ψ).
    These digraphs were the diphthongs [aw, ew] in ancient Greek, but later the second
    element of the diphthong fricatized into [v], resulting in [av, ev].
     μπ — [b] (word initial: μπάσκετ) or [mb] (middle position: ομπρέλα)
     ντ — [d] (word initial: ντίσκο) or [nd] (middle position: Αντρέας)
     γκ — [g] (word initial: γκαράζ) or [ŋg] (middle position: καγκουρό)
    Pronunciations with a mid-position nasal are more conservative, but the truth is that,
    increasingly, Greeks tend to pronounce [ m b, n d, ŋ g] or even [b, d, g] (with some
    nasalization of the front vowel).
    As we had seen, the historical stops [b, d, g] were weakened in modern Greek, so
    when there is a need to represent these sounds (normally in loanwords from other
    languages) we have to resort to the previous digraphs.
     γγ — [ŋg] ([ɲʝ] before [e, i]: άγγελος [ˈaɲʝelos], αγγίζω [aɲˈʝizo])
     τσ — [ts]
     τζ— [dz]
    The digraph τζ is misleading, since its pronunciation is [dz] and not [tz] as one might
    expect. It is mainly used in loanwords from Turkish or, more recently, from English [dʒ]
    .

    Difficult phoneme pairs for Spanish speakers


    When we talk about phonemes, we are talking about sounds that are capable of
    distinguishing one word from another, like in Spanish “co g er” and “co s er” for
    example. In Greek there are some phonemes that do not exist in Spanish (or are only
    allophones), so the Spanish speaker must pay special attention to distinguishing
    both phonemes from the following pairs :
     β [v] ↔ μπ [b] — the Spanish speaker tends to pronounce only ‹b, v› [b/β] according
    to the Spanish distribution
     γ [ɣ] ↔ γκ [g] — the Spanish speaker tends to pronounce only ‹g› [g/ɣ] according to
    the Spanish distribution
     δ [ð] ↔ ντ [d] — the Spanish speaker tends to pronounce only ‹d› [d/ð] according to
    the Spanish distribution
    In Spanish, /b/, /d/, and /g/ are approximants [β], [ð], [ɣ] in all positions except after
    pause, after nasal consonant, or, in the case of /d /, after lateral consonant; in these
    contexts, they are voiced stops [ Wikipedia ].

    Latest notes
     Greek, like English and most languages (but not Spanish), has words that begin
    with σ + consonant , such as σκόρδο [ˈskοrðο]. This combination does not exist in
    Spanish, so Spanish speakers usually add an [e] at the beginning (i.e. [esˈkοrðο])
    which is as incorrect as it is comical to native ears.
    This consonant group did exist in Latin, but in the Vulgar Latin of Iberia a prothetic [e] was
    added, so that the Latin statua [ˈsta.tu.a] became pronounced [es.ˈta.tu.a], from where
    the current “statue”.
     The Greek [r] is theoretically simple as in the Spanish “but”, even in initial position
    (e.g., ρόδα [ˈroða]). However, it is not uncommon to hear natives pronounce it twice
    randomly, as in the Spanish “perro”, without changing the meaning of the word.
     The Greek [s] sounds more like the Castilian [s] than the Andalusian/Spanish-
    American/English [s], that is, it sounds like a mixture of [s] and [ʃ] (English show ). In
    any case, since in Greek there is no distinction between [s] and [ʃ], the pronunciation
    should not create any confusion.
     Furthermore, σ is pronounced as [z] when immediately followed by any of the
    letters β, γ, δ, μ, ν, ρ (occasionally λ): κό σμ ος [ˈko zm os], etc.; This pronunciation
    is mandatory. This can happen even between two separate words when the first
    ends in ς: ο φίλο ς μ ου [oˈfilo zm u]; This pronunciation is not mandatory, but it is
    common in everyday speech.
     Greek fricatives are generally “heavier” and longer than the corresponding Spanish
    or English fricatives, although this should not create any confusion either.
     Greek does not have the sounds [ʃ, tʃ, dʒ], so when a native (without specific training
    or without taking care of their pronunciation) has to pronounce foreign words with
    these phonemes, they simply adapt them: fish [fɪʃ] > [ fis]; chat [tʃæt] > [tsat]; jeans
    [dʒi:nz] > [dzinz].
     In general, there are no diphthongs in Greek, since those of ancient Greek were
    monophthongs. Yes, there are rare combinations of two vowels , always being the
    last [i]. To prevent these written combinations from being confused with the
    corresponding digraphs (for example, παιδί [peˈði]), the ι/υ has an umlaut, that is: αϊ,
    εϊ, οϊ, υϊ, οϋ, αϋ, εϋ [ai , ei, oi, ii, oi, ai, ei]. It is also possible that that [i] has the
    accent: παΐδι [paˈiði].

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